Nowadays, there are so many different types of internet marketing techniques, it can be difficult to figure out what’s going to work, what should be avoided, and what’s going to actually bring in more visitors to a website. Influencer marketing has been around for many years but is starting to be used more for internet marketing as business owners are discovering just how effective it might be. Read below to learn more about influencer marketing and why it might be a great addition to your internet marketing plan.
What is Influencer Marketing?
This type of marketing uses influencers to spread the word about a business. Influencers are those who have the ability to get the word out to more people and to encourage them to do something. For instance, they might be used to talk about a new business and to encourage their followers to check out the business online.
Influencers are often people who have a large following of others on social media websites, who people trust, and who have the ability to influence how people act, what they think, and what they might do. Not everyone can be an influencer, though there are many people that might be a good fit for a business that wants to use influencer marketing to help introduce or expand their business.
Why Use Influencer Marketing Today?
Influencer marketing is similar to word-of-mouth advertising as it uses an influencer to tell others about the business or about a certain topic. Just like word-of-mouth advertising, it has been shown to be incredibly effective when it’s done right. It’s useful for a variety of different campaigns a business might be interested in and can help businesses find many new customers. Though it is not a fast way to gain a lot more customers, it can be highly effective for just about any kind of business.
The right influencer can reach many people and turn them into customers.
Businesses can contact people that are influential in their niche and encourage them to promote the business. This is not the same as a celebrity endorsement or similar viral marketing strategies as influencers may not necessarily be celebrities. Instead, they’re someone who has considerable influence in a certain niche topic relevant to the business. This type of marketing is slow to take effect, so it can be used alongside other internet marketing techniques to have the biggest impact on the business.
How Does Influencer Marketing Work?
Basically, the business finds an influencer that’s active in their niche and that they want to work with. They negotiate with the influencer and work to convince the influencer to help promote their business or products. If the influencer agrees, the influencer starts publishing content that encourages their viewers to learn more about the business or products. This does need to be done carefully and done with the right influencer for the best results.
Pros of Using Influencer Marketing Today
Influencer marketing can encourage customers to purchase a product or to follow a certain brand on social media websites, 
increasing the potential for them to become a customer. In fact, according to recent studies, 45% of female consumers have decided to follow a brand on social media because of something an influencer said. Since 62% of women follow influencers on at least two social media websites, that’s a huge potential for increasing brand awareness and attracting more customers.
What are the Potential Drawbacks to Influencer Marketing?
The main downside is that the content created or used by the influencer has to be crafted very carefully. It has to encourage the viewer to act, such as by following the brand on social media, without sounding like it’s trying to sell the viewer something. It should naturally encourage them to learn more about a brand, not try to convince them to purchase something they might not have considered before. In fact, 37% of women have stopped following an influencer because they posted too much sponsored content. If the content is not created carefully, it could have the opposite of the intended impact.
Influencer marketing may have been around for a while, but it is an incredibly effective way to draw in more customers, increase brand awareness, and encourage more sales. Though can take a while to really produce results, it can be a solid component to an overall internet marketing plan and can help enhance the results of other techniques that are used. To gain more customers and more sales, influencer marketing is definitely one of the top marketing techniques to consider today.
